Lesson Element
Structure and Function of the Processor
Clock speed
The purpose of this activity is to understand the effect of changing the clock speed of a computer
system. To complete this, you should know the function of a CPU in a computer system and know
something about the fetch-execute cycle.
Your teacher will give you instruction during this activity that you have to follow to answer the questions
below:
1. What is a clock speed?
2. What happens within a CPU cycle?
3. If my CPU processes data at 1,800,000,000 clock cycles per second, is that fast?
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4. ‘Fewer clock cycles with more work are better than more clock cycles with less work.’ What
advantages are there of setting your clock speed to be slower (underclocking it)?
5. What advantages are there of setting your clock speed to be faster (overclocking it)?
6. What are the dangers of overclocking a system?
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